THE SEED 9 



seed-coat, are soon thrust upwards by the curved form 

 of the growing root ; this leads to the splitting of the 

 seed-coat into two halves, whereby the young plant is 

 set free. It is worth observing that the protuberance is 

 only formed on one side, the under one ; and that if, 

 when germination has proceeded to a slight extent, the 

 seed be turned over so as to bring the upper side to the 

 under side, then a protuberance will form on the side 

 finally downwards. This will happen even if a slight 

 protuberance has begun to form before the turning took 

 place. 



In the instances of germination already referred to, 

 the supply of plant food is stored in the cotyledons, 

 whence it readily passes to the growing parts of the 

 young plant. In those cases, however, where there is a 

 separate store of plant food, that is in albuminous seeds 

 there must exist some means whereby this food can be 

 made use of by the young plant. It will be well to 

 describe one or two examples showing how this is 

 accomplished. 



The common buckwheat affords an interesting and 

 readily observed case. If some buckwheat is sown in a 

 pot of sawdust, seedlings can easily be obtained in 

 various stages of development for us to see that as in 

 the preceding cases the radicle first bursts through and 

 grows downwards into the soil. Above ground appears 

 the little stem, not as a mere arch as in the bean, but 

 curled round in a complete loop, bearing at the free end 

 the whole seed, with the cotyledons still inside. The 

 cotyledons remain enclosed for some time in the seed, 

 which fits them as a kind of cap. Slowly they throw off 



